GIS Ordered To Grant Lawyers Access To Liberian Refugees

By William Yaw Owusu

Wednesday April9, 2008
AN Accra Fast Track High Court has ordered the Director-General of Ghana Immigration Service (GIS) to allow lawyers access to Liberian refugees who are currently in the custody of the service.

The court, presided over by Justice P.K. Gyaesayor now with the Court of Appeal, gave the order at the hearing of an exparte application filed against the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice by 23 Liberian s including seven minors.

The motion on notice for a writ of habeas corpus was sworn by Theresa Cheddah Dogbey of Zone 10-152B at the Buduburam Refugee Camp near Kasoa in the Central Region, on behalf of the 22 others, seeking among other things an order for their release and another order to restrain the Minister of the Interior, the Inspector-General of Police and the Director-General of the GIS from taking further action against them including their deportation.

Legal Resources Centre (LRS) and the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative (CHRI) are jointly representing the refugees in the case.

All the 23 plaintiffs were brought to the court by GIS officials.

Nana Oye Lithur of the CHRI, who moved the motion alleged that the Director-General of the GIS had refused to allow them access to their clients for interview except Dogbey.

Speaking for Dogbey, counsel told the packed court that the plaintiff is entitled to remain in Ghana and also has the right to be protected by the courts even if she is a non-citizen as stated in Article 12 of the Constitution.

She argued that Articles 2(1) and 26 of the International Convention on Civil and Political Rights reinforced the protection that non-citizens enjoy under the 1992 constitution.

Counsel said the plaintiffs were “unlawfully arrested at the Buduburam Camp, sent to Kordiabe in the Eastern Region and then brought back to the GIS cell in Accra.”

She said once both the Minister of the Interior and the Police Administration told the public that the plaintiffs engaged in an unlawful demonstration thereby breaching the Public Order Act, the authorities needed to produce them before a court to get a detention order.

“As far as the plaintiffs are concerned, they were suspected to have committed a criminal offence and the sector Minister should have arraigned them before a court but failed to do so. Their continuous detention without a court order is therefore illegal.”

She further said the minors who are also in detention is a breach of the children’s Act.

It was at this juncture that Justice Gyaesayor asked counsel to hold on for him to make the order to enable counsel to ascertain the refugee status of all the plaintiffs and report back to the court after which Mrs Evely Keelson who represented the Attorney-General can respond to the motion.

The case was subsequently adjourned until April 14.

On February 19, the Liberian refugees at the Buduburam settlement embarked on a sit-in to back their demands for an improved repatriation package from the UN refugee agency.

They were asking for 1,000 dollars per adult, as well as resettlements in a western country.

Following weeks of unrest, security agencies moved in to maintain order.

Representatives of the Liberian government later flew in to hold discussions with Ghanaian and UNHCR officials, leading to the formation of a Tripartite Committee to draw modalities for their repatriation.